By Peter Kahindi
MONDAY morning, I settled into work and cleared some pending emails, then opened up my WhatsApp and was taken aback by the sheer number of messages on the neighborhood forum.
It was unusual, especially for an early Monday morning. So I had to read up on all the messages in that one Group.
There were numerous complaints about an infamous five-storey structure in the neighbourhood whose owner thought it was best positioned on a publicly gazetted road.
This multi-billion residential structure has been erected by an outfit that prides itself on being a ‘professional real estate company’, with several housing projects in different suburbs within the Greater Kampala Metropolitan district.
The company is owned by educated individuals of above-average exposure and, more importantly, employs educated personnel with various post-graduate professional qualifications.
It is therefore logical to conclude that the people involved in undertaking this ambitious project at a strategic and managerial level were all fully aware of some obviously wrong elements about it.
Top on the list is their failure to create any distance between the building and the road or even road reserve.
Even the regular village drunkard is well aware of the need for a road reserve as he (or she) needs it to get home safely or to sleep off their over-indulgence.
In the city, leaving space between one’s property and a road allows for expansion (immediate or future), enables the installation or construction of public utilities, and also protects one’s property from encroachment.
Before opening that WhatsApp chat flow I believed such things to be obvious; especially to a ‘real estate developer’. After this, I will not be surprised to learn that there are chefs out here who are not aware that they should wash their kitchen utensils with soap and water.
How does an entity of this nature disregard something so fundamental?
With permission from a society whose standards have gone down the drain. (Which, incidentally, the offending building by this real estate company in my neighbourhood has also blocked up.)
The average Ugandan, less educated in matters to do with physical planning, normally builds their perimeter wall fence many inches into the road reserve.
The idea is to maximize the space available to them on their side of the property on which to throw parties.
This not only happens in the haphazardly built neighborhoods where you might get a headache trying to figure out if there is an urban planning agenda in the country, but also in ‘planned’ estates.
People ‘eat’ into the shared road and they end up being inconvenienced because only one car can pass at a time and there is no space for public utilities like water trenches or expansion.
When it rains, the road floods.
To worsen affairs, some people build with their only plan for sewage water from their compound being the road right outside their homes.
So, it’s typical to see a pipe peeping out of one corner of a wall fence into a public road. Sometimes I picture the mugagga of that house standing there doing susu in public onto the main road because that’s exactly what is happening!
They will not entertain the idea of leaving enough space between their fence and the road to accommodate a big enough trench to take all that water out. It’s mind-boggling and yet very normal now.
Eventually, such structures derail development programs like sanctioned road construction, road expansion, and the creation of properly connected drainage systems to enable the free flow of water, installation of road signs and street lighting, etc.
ALL the above are meant to benefit the public INCLUDING the owners of such properties.
Back to my neighborhood, because there is no provision for a trench or drain, and on account of the current wet season, when the rain water settles on the road and can’t find an exit it naturally digs into the wall of the structures.
A lot of the water sometimes occupies the road and holds the works at a standstill for days or weeks.
The direct consequence to the developer?
A steep drop in occupancy rates, with the entire ground floor being abandoned, and residents on the other floors finding alternative accommodation every other month because a sizable chunk of their (YOUR, MR. PROPERTY DEVELOPER) wall has been ‘eaten away’ by the water and the road construction machinery.
That is not to mention the risk of diseases, safety hazards like collapsed foundations, and so on, ad nauseum.
At the end of day, refusing to observe road reserve space is self-sabotage to the person constructing, even without considering the public nuisance that such omissions cause…
Construction on road reserves is a countrywide problem, as this article below proves.
Ironically, it even leads to some contractors abandoning their road construction or expansion projects because the complications are too costly in time and money.
All this is unnecessary if the professionals understand that a well-developed road with all the attendant utilities (electricity, water and internet) adds immense value to one’s property and greatly improves security, health, safety and quality of life.
Make no mistake, no one encroaches on a road reserve without knowing that it is wrong and illegal; but in their pursuit of more space, they may not appreciate the full extent of the repercussions.
Somebody needs to make them appreciate this.
That somebody is you and I – every Ugandan out there who is sensible – like the people on my neighbourhood WhatsApp Group if they had spoken up early enough about this offensive, offending project that is causing us angst.
Jambo (Hi)! I'd be happy to hear your thoughts so…say something here?